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I like rainbows and prices... after tax.
First, as always, I went to visit a supermarket in this foreign land. Alas it seems that the number of strange and amazing things decreases when one knows the language of the country. I did find some rainbow Twizzlers though! Rainbow ones! They still have no taste like regular Twizzlers but at least they're rainbow coloured. |
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And second, please some explain to me the stupid concept of indicating the price before taxes? Really what's the point? "Oh the price is 3.99 CAD, that's great, I'll be able to get rid of some of my 2 CAD coins! Oh wait, it's actually 4.XX CAD because of the stupid tax... great, here's a 5 CAD bill and more coins go in my wallet, awesome." Yes, that's me on a daily basis. Probably the argument is that since the taxes are different in each region, indicating the "real" sale price (what the store is getting) without the taxes lets you know if the store is cheating you out of money or not. Still, it's not helping! Heck, why not indicate both prices before and after tax? A bit like two prices were indicated everywhere during the euro transition. Honestly I'm already having a hard time thinking of tips (don't get me started on that!) so trying to remember that the real price of what I'm buying is actually 20% or so higher is horrible. Just how many years does one need to live around here to get used to this? |
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To make it even more complicated, there are two taxes -- GST (5% federal tax) and provincial. Every province has a different rate; Alberta has none. And some things are subject to only the GST, other things you only pay provincial tax on, and some things are charged BOTH taxes. It's nuts.
Here in British Columbia, we just had both taxes amalgamated into one (HST -- Harmonized Sales Tax). We're still paying the same combined rate, but now everything is suject to the full 12% whereas with the old system, many things such as restaurants and services were only subject to the GST... so now we're paying more tax on more things. It really sucks. But at least the calculations are a little easier. :-)
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In France they're still doing the whole "some essential stuff gets a 5.5% tax and the rest gets 19.5%" (I think those are the amounts but they might have increased), I have yet to understand how they figure out what's essential, it can be confusing at times but at least the tax is taken into account already in the price. In Finland they just increased the VAT to 23% on everything besides strong alcohol, for which it decreased... the Finnish government has the best logic ever.
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Yeah, nobody here knows what's considered "essential" either because the rules are so stupid. For example, tampons and pads have always been subject to the 5% federal GST because they're considered "luxury" items (LOL, as if) but in Ontario and BC they're exempt from the new HST. Not that I buy those things anyway (yay for my Diva Cup!) but it's utterly confusing for everyone. I can't even imagine tourists trying to make sense of it.
There's also the famous doughnut example: If you go to Timmy Ho's and buy 5 doughnuts, you get charged both GST and PST. But if you buy a pack of 6 doughnuts, it's considered "groceries" and you only get charged PST.
Welcome to Canada. :-)
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